Emancipate Yourself Quiz: Test your knowledge of the past

Jamaicans observe Emancipation Day as a public holiday on August 1 each year. Full Emancipation came four years after slavery was formally abolished in the British West Indies. See how much you know about Emancipation by participating in the Loop Jamaica quiz below.

1. When was Emancipation Day first observed as a public holiday in Jamaica?

A. 1834

B. 1838

C. 1962

D. 1893

2. After Jamaica stopped observing Emancipation Day as a public holiday at Independence in 1962, when was it reinstated as a holiday?

A.1976

B. 1986

C. 1997

D. 2002

3. Which Prime Minister reintroduced Emancipation Day as a public holiday in Jamaica?

A. Edward Seaga

B. PJ Patterson

C. Sir Alexander Bustamante

D. Michael Manley

4. In which year were slaves in Jamaica and elsewhere in the Caribbean fully emancipated?

A. 1789

B. 1838

C. 1848

D. 1856

5. At Emancipation, how much money did slave owners receive in compensation?

A. 25,000,000 pounds

B. 80,000,000 pounds

C. 20,000,000 pounds

D. 100,000,000 pounds

6. In what year was slavery abolished?

A. 1831

B. 1832

C. 1833

D. 1834

7. Who or what institution compensated planters for their ‘lost’ slaves?

A. The Colonial Office

B. Queen Victoria

C.The British Parliament

D. The Abolitionists

8. True or false: Up to 2015, British taxpayers were still paying off the interest on the 20,000,000 pound loan used to compensate slave owners in 1833?

A.True

B. False

9. True or false: Former British Prime Minister David Cameron’s relatives were slave owners?

A. True

B. False

10. Emancipation Day is observed as a public holiday in which former British territories?

A. Barbados

B. Guyana

C. Jamaica

D. Trinidad and Tobago

E. All of the above

11. Which two former British territories released their slaves in 1834 when slavery was officially abolished and not on Emancipation Day, August 1, 1838?

A. Barbados and Jamaica

B. Trinidad and Tobago and St Lucia

C. Guyana and St Kitts

D. Bermuda and Antigua

12. What was the period between the abolition of slavery and Full Emancipation called?

A. Internship

B. Apprenticeship

C. Bartering

D. Full Employment

13. Where is Emancipation Park located in Jamaica?

A. Half-Way Tree

B. Mandeville

C. New Kingston

D. Downtown Kingston

14. True or false: Full Emancipation came four years early?

A. True

B. False

15. Which artist is behind the monumental sculpture Redemption Song at the entrance of Emancipation Park in Kingston?

A. Barrington Watson

B. David Boxer

C. Laura Facey

D. Gene Pearson

16. Whose original words inspired the popular saying, ‘Emancipate yourself from mental slavery’

A. Nelson Mandela

B. Frederick Douglas

C. Bob Marley

D. Marcus Garvey

17. In which country was slavery first abolished?

A. Jamaica

B. United States

C. Trinidad & Tobago

D. Haiti

18. What was the slave trade route through which millions of enslaved Africans were shipped across the Atlantic to the Americas called?

A. Paradise Sail

B. Black Star Line

C. Middle Passage

D. Atlantic Strait

19. Who was the main instigator of the 1831 Slave Rebellion, which began on the Kensington Estate in St James and which was largely instrumental in bringing about the abolition of slavery?

A. Sam Sharpe

B. Nanny

C. Paul Bogle

D. Marcus Garvey

20. Escaped slaves who fled to the mountainous areas of Jamaica were called?